Alexander Teixeira de Mattos


Alexander Louis Teixeira de Mattos , known as Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, was a Dutch-English journalist, literary critic and publisher, who gained his greatest fame as a translator.

Early life

The Teixeira de Mattos Sampaio e Mendes family was of Portuguese Jewish origin, having been driven out of Portugal to the Netherlands by Holy Office persecution. Alexander Teixeira de Mattos was born as a Dutch Protestant to an English mother and a Dutch father. In 1874, when he was nine years old, he and his family moved from Amsterdam to England. There, he studied under Monsignor Thomas John Capel and converted to Roman Catholicism. He then studied at the Kensington Catholic Public School and at the Jesuit school Beaumont College.

Career

After his studies, Teixeira came into contact with J. T. Grein, a London impresario of Dutch origin, and was made secretary of Grein's Independent Theatre Society. He worked as a freelance translator, as the London correspondent of a Dutch newspaper, and as the editor of the papers Dramatic Opinions and The Candid Friend, and, in collaboration with Leonard Smithers, in publishing. He became the official translator of the works of Maurice Maeterlinck, beginning with Maeterlinck's The Double Garden.
Teixera was fluent in English, French, German, Flemish, Dutch, and Danish. In addition to the later works of Maeterlinck, his translations include works by Émile Zola, Alexis de Tocqueville, Maurice Leblanc, Gaston Leroux, François René de Chateaubriand, Paul Kruger, Carl Ewald, Georgette Leblanc, Stijn Streuvels, and Louis Couperus. He considered his greatest achievement to be his complete translation of Jean-Henri Fabre's natural history.
In the 1890s, Teixeira was the leading translator for the Lutetian Society, a group whose mission was "to issue to its members, translations of such representative master-pieces of fiction by Continental authors as are unprocurable in English in an unmutilated rendering." He oversaw the Society's publication of unexpurgated translations of six banned novels by Émile Zola in 1894–5, contributing his own translation of the third volume in the series, La curée.
During World War I, Teixera was head of the Intelligence Section, as well as a member of the Advisory Board, of the War Trade Intelligence Department. Midway through the war, Teixeira became a British subject. In June 1920, he was made a Chevalier of the Order of Leopold II.

Personal life

On 20 October 1900, he married Lily Wilde, née Sophie Lily Lees, the widow of Oscar Wilde's older brother Willie Wilde and thus became the stepfather of Dolly Wilde, then age 5. Alexander and Lily Teixeira de Mattos had one son, who died a few hours after birth.
Teixeira was known to his acquaintances as a dandy and a fastidious worker, keeping strictly to set hours, and was linked to the Symbolist movement thanks to his friendship and travels with Arthur Symons. He was also personal friends with Maurice Maeterlinck and Louis Couperus, both of whom wrote works he translated. He was politically liberal and a devout Catholic.
Due to ill health, Teixeira traveled on a rest cure in 1920 at Crowborough and the Isle of Wight, returning to his home in Chelsea, London in spring 1921. He worked as usual through the autumn and traveled to Cornwall for the winter. On December 5, 1921, in St Ives, Cornwall he collapsed and died from angina pectoris. The New York Times, in its obituary notice, called him "one of the best translators of foreign languages of the present generation." The high quality and readability of Teixera's work was such that many of his translations are still in print today. For example, though his translation of La curée is over a century old, its accuracy and style have given it a status still unrivaled by more modern versions.

List of translations

The dates given in the list below are the publication dates for Teixeira's translations. Unless otherwise referenced, all information in the list is derived from catalog entries in WorldCat.
AuthorTitleYear
Arthur BylYvette Guilbert1898
Antoine de CastellaneMen and things of my time1911
François René de ChateaubriandThe memoirs of François René, vicomte de Chateaubriand, sometime ambassador to England1902
Louis Couperus 1892
Louis CouperusMajesty: A Novel 1894
Louis CouperusThe Books of Small Souls, Vol. I: Small Souls1914
Louis CouperusThe Books of Small Souls, Vol. II: The Later Life1915
Louis CouperusThe Books of Small Souls, Vol. III: The Twilight of the Souls1917
Louis CouperusThe Books of Small Souls, Vol. IV: Dr. Adriaan1918
Louis CouperusOld People and the Things that Pass1918
Louis CouperusThe Tour: A Story of Ancient Egypt1920
Louis CouperusThe Inevitable1920
Louis CouperusThe Hidden Force: A Story of Modern Java1921
Robert d'HumièresThrough Isle and Empire1905
Carl EwaldMy Little Boy1906
Carl EwaldTwo-Legs1906
Carl EwaldThe spider, and other tales1907
Carl EwaldThe Old Room1908
Carl EwaldThe Four Seasons1913
Carl EwaldThe Old Willow-tree, and other stories1921
Carl EwaldThe Pond1922
Carl EwaldThe twelve sisters and other stories1923
Jean-Henri FabreThe Works of J. H. Fabre1912–1922
Fernand GrenardTibet: the country and its inhabitants1904
Jozef IsraëlsSpain: the story of a journey1900
Melati van JavaThe Resident's Daughter1893
Paul KrugerThe memoirs of Paul Kruger, four times president of the South African republic1902
Georgette LeblancThe Children's Bluebird1913
Georgette LeblancThe Choice of Life1914
Georgette LeblancThe girl who found the blue bird; a visit to Helen Keller1914
Georgette LeblancMaeterlinck's dogs1920
Maurice LeblancThe Exploits of Arsène Lupin1907
Maurice LeblancArsène Lupin versus Holmlock Shears1909
Maurice Leblanc8131910
Maurice LeblancThe Frontier1912
Maurice LeblancThe Confessions of Arsène Lupin1912
Maurice LeblancThe Hollow Needle1913
Maurice LeblancThe Crystal Stopper1913
Maurice LeblancThe Teeth of the Tiger1915
Maurice LeblancThe Bomb-Shell: 19141916
Maurice LeblancThe Golden Triangle1917
Maurice LeblancCoffin Island1920
Maurice LeblancThe Eyes of Innocence 1920
Maurice LeblancThe secret of Sarek1920
Maurice LeblancThe Three Eyes1921
Maurice LeblancThe Eight Strokes of the Clock1922
Maurice LeblancThe Tremendous Event1922
Maurice LeblancThe Secret Tomb1922
Gaston LerouxThe Phantom of the Opera1911
Gaston LerouxBalaoo1913
Jean LéonardSouvenirs of Léonard, hairdresser to Queen Marie-Antoinette1897
Maurice MaeterlinckChrysanthemums and other essays1904
Maurice MaeterlinckThe Double Garden1904
Maurice Maeterlinck"King Lear" in Paris1905
Maurice MaeterlinckMy Dog1906
Maurice MaeterlinckOld-fashioned flowers and other open-air essays1906
Maurice MaeterlinckThe Intelligence of the Flowers1907
Maurice MaeterlinckLife and Flowers1907
Maurice MaeterlinckThe Measure of the Hours1907
Maurice MaeterlinckNews of spring and other nature studies1907
Maurice MaeterlinckJoyzelle1907
Maurice MaeterlinckThe leaf of olive1908
Maurice MaeterlinckMary Magdalene1910
Maurice MaeterlinckThe Blue Bird1910
Maurice MaeterlinckDeath1911
Maurice MaeterlinckHours of Gladness1912
Maurice MaeterlinckOur Eternity1913
Maurice MaeterlinckOur Friend the Dog1913
Maurice MaeterlinckThe Unknown Guest1914
Maurice MaeterlinckLife and letters1914
Maurice MaeterlinckThe Wrack of the Storm1916
Maurice MaeterlinckThe Light Beyond1917
Maurice MaeterlinckThe Burgomaster of Stilemonde1918
Maurice MaeterlinckThe Betrothal or the Blue Bird Chooses1918
Maurice MaeterlinckThe Miracle of Saint Anthony1918
Maurice MaeterlinckMountain Paths1919
G. Hermine MariusDutch painting in the nineteenth century1908
Eugénie de Coucy OudinotMemoirs of Marshal Oudinot, duc de Reggio1896
Xavier PaoliMy royal clients1911
Peter RoseggerThe forest farm: tales of the Austrian Tyrol1912
Stijn StreuvelsThe Path of Life1915
Alexis de TocquevilleThe Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville1896
August WeisslThe Mystery of the Green Car1913
Émile ZolaThe heirs of Rabourdin1894
Émile ZolaLa curée1895